Voice of the Oconee Rivers Audubon Society

December 1998 Vol. 8 No. 12

Upcoming Meetings

Ø December 3^rd, Jim Richardson and Owen Kinney will present a program on identifying by sight, sound, and habit our resident winter birds. Not only will this presentation assist in our preparation for the annual Christmas Bird Count on December 19^th, but will be of interest to everyone who observes birds and would like to learn more from two very knowledgeable bird watchers.

Ø We meet at the Princeton United Methodist Church at 7:00 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month. The church is located at 2390 S. Lumpkin St., where Lumpkin meets the Macon Hwy (US441/GA15).

A Note of Thanks to...

ØEugene Odum, Director Emeritus of UGA’s Institute of Ecology, for his thoughtful discussion at our 5^th Nov meeting of his new book, "Ecological Vignettes: Ecological Approaches to Dealing with Human Predicaments" and of how solutions to the environmental and population problems we face now and in the future must be based on the same ecological principles and balances that rule the natural world.

Bird Walks, Field Trips, and Events

ØDecember 19^th, Annual Christmas Bird Count

(See related story following). We are looking for volunteers to help on the bird count teams covering the ORAS count area in Athens-Clarke County. Bird enthusiasts of all skill levels are welcome to participate. A "count-down" covered dish supper will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Princeton United Methodist Church for all participants. Contact Eugenia Thompson (549-7318) or Mary Case (548-3848) for more details.

Congratulations to . . .

Ø Chris Eberly on his newborn baby boy!

Christmas Bird Count by Geoffrey S. LeBaron (birdsource.cornell.edu)

Every year since 1900, the National Audubon Society has conducted its annual Christmas Bird Count. This year, Audubon starts a new tradition. Christmas Bird Count enthusiasts nationwide will enter their count results on-line for the first time from December 18 through January 3 at the BirdSource website http://birdsource.cornell.edu/. Originally started as a gathering of 27 conservationists protesting the annual "side hunt," (a contest to see who could shoot the most birds and animals on Christmas Day), Audubon's Christmas Bird Count has turned into a hemisphere-wide conservation institution. This year, over 45,000 volunteers from all fifty states, every Canadian province, Central and South America, the Caribbean and several Pacific Islands (areas where breeding birds of North America winter) will count and record every bird species encountered during one calendar day (between December 18 through January 3). About 1,700 individual Christmas Bird Counts will be held during the two and a half week period. Each count group has a designated circle 15 miles in diameter where they cover as much ground as possible within a 24-hour period. Counters will be able to go on-line to the BirdSource website and enter their figures instantly. Participants without access to the web may still submit paper forms to National Audubon for on-line data entry by ornithology staff.

The Christmas Bird Count is more than a much-anticipated holiday event; the results are vital in assessing the status and health of continental birds as well as the general state of the environment. Since birds are one of the first groups of animals affected by environmental threats such as pollution and habitat destruction, Christmas Bird Count data provides indispensable information, not only on long-term health of bird populations, but also on all living things, including ourselves. The Christmas Bird Count is the longest running ornithological database. As its centennial approaches, the count continues to grow in importance as a way to monitor the status of resident and migratory bird populations across the western hemisphere. Results from the count will be integral in assessing the WatchList, a record of birds that are in decline or in potential danger. Christmas Bird Counts have brought attention to 115 species of birds that have significantly declined and been added to the WatchList. The WatchList has become the centerpiece of bird conservation at the National Audubon Society. The Christmas Bird Count's 100% volunteer generated database has also become a crucial part of the U.S. Government's natural history monitoring programs. With over 550,000 members in 518 chapters throughout the Americas, the National Audubon Society advances its mission to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity.

Winter Bird Feeding Bird Bulletin, 9/92

With winter approaching, you have probably seen many new birds appear in your yard. If you’ve never fed birds before, you might wonder what foods are best to put in your feeders. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology tells us that different kinds of birds like different types of seeds. If you are looking for one seed that will attract the largest number of birds, however, you would have to pick the black oil sunflower seeds. The striped sunflower seeds are bigger and have thicker seed coats, making them harder for small birds to handle and crack. In winter, suet is also attractive to many insect-eating birds such as chickadees, woodpeckers, and nuthatches. Recent studies indicate that birds prefer plain, inexpensive beef suet over commercial suet cakes. Suet is a high-energy food favored by birds wintering in cold locations. Though feeding birds doesn’t require much effort, some maintenance is necessary. Bird feeders should be cleaned at least once a year (some sources suggest more frequently) by scrubbing with soap and water, then dipping them into a solution with one part bleach and nine parts water. Be sure to rinse well and allow to dry before refilling. Another chore – be sure to rake up seed hulls in the spring. Decomposing hulls can kill your lawn and might spread disease to your feeder birds.

Range Expansion of Boat-tailed and Great-tailed Grackles Geoffrey S. LeBaron

The "Cassidix" grackles, Great-tailed and Boat-tailed, present an interesting study both of taxonomy and range expansion. The Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) inhabits inland second-growth and agricultural habitats from southwestern North America through Central America to the northern and western coasts of South America. The Boat-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major) is a characteristic species of brackish coastal habitats along the southeastern Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines of the United States. Both species are primarily resident in their ranges, and have been undergoing dramatic range expansion northward in the 20th Century. Populations of Boat-tailed and Great-tailed grackles in recently colonized northern areas move southward during winter months. These two closely-related birds, along with the extinct Slender-billed Grackle of Mexico, represent a "superspecies" formerly assigned the genus Cassidix. From 1902 to 1957 ornithologists considered Boat-tailed and Great-tailed grackles the same species, as they are morphologically similar and can be difficult to separate in the field in their limited range of overlap. Adult Great-tailed Grackles have bright yellow irises, are larger than Boat-taileds, and show different iridescence of plumage. Studies have also shown that differences in vocalization and courtship display keep the two forms separate in areas where both occur, leading to the splitting of the forms to full species status.

During the 1940’s and 1950’s there was a rapid expansion of Boat-tailed Grackles northward up the east coast, eventually slowing down at their present breeding limit of northern New Jersey and Long Island. The range continues to slowly spread northward into New England, as well as to slightly more inland habitats. Great-tailed Grackles in the west remained relatively stable until the 1970’s, when this species began a rapid (and continuing) range expansion northward throughout western North America. Great-taileds also have begun to overlap in breeding range with Boat-taileds in eastern Texas, especially as Boat-taileds move slightly inward from the coast. What may be the causes of these expansions? For Boat-tailed Grackles along the East Coast, it may be that relatively mild winters in mid-century allowed this formerly sub-tropical species to survive northward. Human alteration of coastal habitats may have also played a role. In the case of Great-tailed Grackles in the west, the primary factor is probably human—the agricultural conversion of arid prairie and grassland habitats to irrigated farmland. These newly hospitable areas seem to have allowed Great-tailed Grackles to spread rapidly up the major river systems of the west, jumping from river to river as they forge northward.
 
 

105th Congress and the Environment: Was this the "Camouflage" or "Do Nothing" Congress? (From The Audubon Advisory, 11/9/98)

Strong public reaction to the anti-environment 104th Congress (1993-94) drove home to congressional leaders what most of us already knew. The vast majority of Americans -- some polls say as many as 80 percent -- consider themselves environmentalists, and they don't want Congress repealing the laws that have cleaned our air and water, preserved open space, and protected wildlife and habitat. The 105th Congress heeded this message in part. In the past two years, Congress passed an assortment of largely symbolic, honorific bills to provide members with a chance to vote "green." Unfortunately, they failed to address a number of significant policy areas. The Clean Water Act needs to be reauthorized but has been stalled in committee for over three years. The Endangered Species Act should be renewed and improved, but Congress is a long way from acting. Taxpayer subsidies continue to flow to companies for road building in pristine areas of our national forests. Mining law reform is a priority yet to be addressed and funding for open space, wilderness, and wildlife habitat land acquisition has slowed to a trickle. Even worse, Congress used low-visibility legislative tactics to undercut environmental laws. By adding legislative riders to must-pass agency funding bills, special interests attempted to circumvent the normal legislative process. This device was used to move over 70 special-interest provisions with horrific environmental consequences.

To be fair, this Congress passed some positive pieces of legislation and turned down some bad ones. We now have increased operation and maintenance funding and a new organic law for the national wildlife refuge system, as well as increased funding for Everglades restoration. A proposed rewrite of laws governing timber harvest in national forests was soundly defeated. But these successes have been the exception, not the rule, for this Congress. How did this Congress compare to previous ones on environmental issues? Some critics have charged that this should be labeled the "Do Nothing" environmental Congress. It is probably more accurate to label them the "Camouflage Congress." They presented a "green" image to the public, but behind the scenes they failed to address major problems and worked hard to pass anti-environmental special-interest provisions and under-fund vital programs. No matter how you describe their efforts, the 105th Congress did not have a proud environmental record. Many voters saw through this image last Election Day. Several senators survived tough reelection contests in part because of their strong pro-conservation records, including Democrats Barbara Boxer of California, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Patty Murray of Washington and Harry Reid of Nevada. On the other hand, two Republican senators famous for their anti-environmental stands, Lauch Faircloth of North Carolina and Alfonse D'Amato of New York, were defeated. Congress ran, but these senators couldn't hide. Nor could controversial House Speaker Newt Gingrich hide. After four years of battle with the president, the Republican leader resigned in response to challenges in his own party. Gringrich was moderate on environmental issues, even considering himself a wildlife advocate. His likely replacement, Bob Livingston of Louisiana chairs the Appropriations Committee and has consistently voted against the environment. Livingston has pledged cooperation but it remains to be seen if that translates into more or less benefit for birds, wildlife and habitat.